Pope John Paul II announces support for World Youth Day. At the very beginning, during the Jubilee Year of Redemption, and then again for the…
19 December 1932
The British Broadcasting Corporation World Service start broadcasting as the BBC Empire Service. The BBC’s Empire Service began short-wave broadcasts on 12 December 1932, from…
18 December 2006
The United Arab Emirates holds its first-ever elections. The first elections ever to be held in the United Arab Emirates took place on 16 December,…
17 December 1892
The first issue of Vogue is published. The first issue of Vogue magazine came out on December 17, 1892. It started as small, weekly society…
16 December 1920
An estimated 200,000 are killed when a magnitude 8.5 hits the Gansu province in China. The earthquake that hit China’s remote Gansu Province in late…
15 December 2010
A boat of asylum seekers crashes into rocks off the coast of Christmas Island, Australia, killing 48 people. On 15 December 2010, a boat carrying…
14 December 2012
Twenty-eight people, including the gunman, are killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. A 20-year-old man wearing combat gear and armed with semiautomatic…
13 December 1642
Abel Tasman arrives in New Zealand. Abel Tasman was the first European to ‘discover’ New Zealand in 1642. His men were the first Europeans to…
12 December 1935
A Nazi reproduction program (Lebensborn Project) is started by Heinrich Himmler. The Lebensborn project was one of most secret and terrifying Nazi projects. Heinrich Himmler…
11 December 1934
One of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson, takes his last drink. On December 11, 1934, William Griffith Wilson took his last drink of…